1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal composition that is polymerizable by radiation, a cured product having optical anisotropy and available from said composition, and a manufacturing method thereof.
2. Description of the Background Art
In recent years, a controlled orientation arrangement of macromolecules has been required for products utilizing anisotropy in physical characteristics of polymers, such as coating materials, piezoelectric elements, nonlinear optical elements, microlenses, photoconductive cells, actuators, polarizing plates, orientating films, optical deflection prisms, and various optical filters. Also, a polymer film with a controlled orientation arrangement of molecules is desired as a compensation plate for liquid crystal displays to concurrently satisfy both improved quality and lighter weight.
A method of subjecting a liquid crystal composition containing a particular type liquid crystal acrylate compound to a orientation treatment and irradiating the oriented product with radiation (for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 29618/1996 and 75924/1996) is a known technique to respond to such a demand for the compensation plate.
However, this method requires synthesizing and formulating a liquid crystal composition in accordance with various required properties such as optical characteristics, heat resistance, mechanical characteristics, properties as a liquid crystal, and so forth. The above method therefore not only makes the process of preparing the liquid crystal composition complex, but also has the drawback of lacking the ability of being readily applied to the various devices mentioned earlier that require a controlled orientation structure of macromolecules in the same way as a compensation plate.
An object of the present invention is therefore to provide a radiation polymerizable liquid crystal composition which can produce a cured product possessing optical anisotropy via a simplified process.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a radiation polymerizable liquid crystal composition which can be prepared using a simple process.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a radiation polymerizable liquid crystal composition capable of producing various types of cured products possessing optical anisotropy which can meet a variety of applications with little design restriction.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a cured product possessing optical anisotropy that can be prepared from the aforementioned liquid crystal composition, and a manufacturing method thereof.